Art by Tamara Cvetkovic
Tavern Crawl Mechanics: Activities for a Night Out
The life of the adventurer is one filled with deadly dangers and constant challenges. It doesn't matter if they are a traditional dungeon delver, a sleuth solving crime in the big city, or just saving the world one more time; eventually every adventurer needs to a good night out to blow off steam. For players, these optional mechanics offer a series of activities they can choose from for their night of leisure, potentially gaining benefits or allies along the way. For the Narrator, it offers a way to briefly break from the tight grip of the campaign’s plot and take a lighter intermission before the Big Adventure picks up speed again. By Andres Cappiello.
Hellish Descent: Infernal Exploration Challenges
The Lower Realms are home to some of the most hellish and forsaken places in all of existence. At best, fiends cajole and harangue travelers, often going so far as to attack them, but that is far from the greatest threat. Infernal pacts are common here, and agreeing to the wrong contract can mean a fate worse than death. Here are a series of exploration challenges for those adventurers who will delve into the depths of the lower planes. By Tyler Omichinski.
Cats’ Grace: The Pantheran Heritage
While they are occasionally mistaken for feline lycanthropes, furry fey creatures, or even raksha, the feline pantherans are in truth their own distinct heritage. This article explores three sets of pantheran gifts—those most like snow leopards, tigers, and wild cats—as well as a short gazetteer and culture entry on the Ka-Teni people, a group to which many of these catlike folk belong. By PJ Coffey.
Ways of the Rhode Wardens: The Unerring Hawk Combat Tradition
From their respective starts as the tricks of old hunters and a loose collision of woodsfolk and rangers, both the Unerring Hawk combat tradition and the Rhode Wardens have come a long way. As the Wardens’ reputation spread, so too did the praise for their deft skills and unflagging focus, eventually making them respected mercenaries, lauded trackers, and feared bounty hunters. Detailed here are the particulars of this group, as well as the combat maneuvers for which they are so well known. By Andrew Engelbrite.
